Theology beacon dictionary of theology
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- DARWINISM, CREATION, CREATIONISM, DAYS OF CREATION, MAN, THEISTIC EVOLUTION.
- The New Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Christian Faith
- CHRISTLIKENESS, KENOSIS.
- CHURCH, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, DISCIPLINE.
- BIBLE, INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE, HERMENEUTICS.
- Kaiser and Kummel, Exegetical Method: A Students Handbook; Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation.
- PROPHET (PROPHECY), PREACHING, TEACH (TEACHING, TEACHER). THOMAS FlNDLAY EXISTENTIAL, EXISTENTIALISM.
- BEING, NATURE, PROPOSITIONAL THEOLOGY MAN, PHILOSOPHY METAPHYSICS. For Further Reading: Peterfreund, Contemporary Philosophy and Its Origins; Jones
- ELIJAH, REST (REST OF FAITH), REDEEMER (REDEMPTION).
- DEMONS (DEMON POSSESSION), SATAN, PRAYER, FASTING.
EVOLUTION. This is the theory that biological organisms that used to exist, and that presently exist, evolved through long processes. Naturalistic evolution, often also known as Darwinism, is the view that the evolvement of organisms took place because, in the conflict over food, the fittest ones tended to survive and to reproduce themselves. Theistic evolution is the view that God created the first form of life and other special step-ups in the complexity and fitness of organisms. Especially, according to theistic evolution, God stepped in with His creative genius to make the rational animal, man. Creationists usually understand that Cfod created each species—although some of them understand that He created outright only the different families. Importantly, they understand that Genesis 1—2 teach creationism instead of evolution. Also, they find that, while new varieties occur, it is problematic whether anyone has ever started a new species. Exceedingly good individuals of a given species can be developed, but not new species. Indeed, many of them understand that, when natural processes are left to themselves, what you have is devolvement, instead of evolvement. They also question whether characteristics which an organism acquires during its lifetime can be passed on—especially if it means a step up to a new species. And, of course, they know that in those cases where members of two species can breed and have offspring, they find that the offspring (e.g., the mule) cannot reproduce. Only a relatively few Christians today believe in Archbishop Ussher's chronology, which got into many KJV Bibles, according to which creation occurred in 4004 B.c. But as to the length or nature of the creation "days" evangelicals are divided. Some are firm in postulating a relatively recent creation and believing that the creative fiats were circumscribed within 24-hour solar days. Others would agree with H. Orton Wiley, who said that each of the days was no doubt a geological age of indefinite duration. Wiley wrote, "The best Hebrew exegesis has never regarded the days of Genesis as solar days, but as day-periods of indefinite duration" (CT, 1:456). The Hebrew word for day, yom, is often elsewhere translated "age" in KJV. When the six days are viewed as ages, every actual discovery of science is in accord with the Genesis account. Such a view allows for all the "hard and fast" finds of paleontology—e.g., all the forms of fossil remains known to us. It also allows for whatever has been learned in such other biology sub-sciences as taxonomy, serology, embryology, morphology, eugenics, and the geographic distribution of species. See DARWINISM, CREATION, CREATIONISM, DAYS OF CREATION, MAN, THEISTIC EVOLUTION. For Further Reading: Symposium on Creation, vols. 1-6; Hoover, Fallacies of Evolution. J. Kenneth Grider EX CATHEDRA. In present-day church usage, ex cathedra refers to the Roman Catholic pope issuing an infallible statement. Ex means "out of" or "from." The Latin, cathedra, from the Greek, kathedra, originally designated a chair or a seat. Thus the literal meaning of the term, ex cathedra, is "from the chair." In ancient Roman times the EXALTATION OF CHRIST—EXAMPLE 201
chair referred to the seat from which officials presided at meetings. With the rise of the office of the bishop in the early Christian centuries, cathedra was the name given to the chair from which the bishop carried on his work. The chair came to symbolize the authority of the bishop, and thus any communication made from the chair carried the authority of the office. The supreme authority of the pope has long been an article of Roman Catholic faith. Such power is symbolized by his throne. This authority was fully formalized at the First Vatican Council, 1870. At that conclave, it was affirmed that when the pope, as the successor of Peter, issues a statement from his throne (ex cathedra) regarding faith and morals, and speaks as the supreme pastor under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, his pronouncements have the infallible authority of divinely revealed truth. See catholicism (roman), keys of the kingdom. For Further Reading: The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 5:699; Hughes, ed., The Encyclopedia of Christianity, 4:138. Martin H. Schrag EXALTATION OF CHRIST. The exaltation of Christ is a theological phrase which refers to one of the two estates of Christ, the other being His humiliation. The exaltation includes in its scope successive stages in the redemptive work of Christ, variously identified as the descensus ad in-fernus (descent into Hades), His resurrection, ascension, session at the right hand of God, together with His second coming in the Rapture, the Revelation, and the final consummation in judgment. Arminians in general hold that the exaltation of Christ begins following the words of Christ from the Cross, "It is finished," although there is some favor for the view that Christ's exaltation begins with His resurrection and victory over death and the grave. It is not a point of great theological tension. The exaltation of Christ must be studied and understood in the light of His humiliation and the great kenosis passage of Phil. 2:5-11, with 2 Cor. 8:9 being its best commentary (Carl F. H. Henry, Basic Christian Doctrines, 131-37). The exaltation implies the restoration of the divine person of the Son, together with His assumed human nature, to His pristine place and condition of glory at the right hand of the Father (John 17:4-5; Acts 2:33-36; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12-13; 12:2). The purposes of the exaltation include (1) the restoration of Christ to His rightful place and condition of glory and majesty; (2) His enablement to intercede for mankind; (3) His reinvestment with omnipresence according to His divine person and His glorified human nature; and (4) His empowerment to pour out the Holy Spirit on His Church from the plentitude of His glorified personality (J. A. Huffman, A Comprehensive System of Christian Doctrine, 104). Thus, by virtue of His death and resurrection, Christ has been exalted to a place of sovereignty over all men, both living and dead (Rom. 14:9). Further, God will restore a fallen universe in the person of His incarnate Son. In brief, the elevation of Christ to the loftiest height above all other gods and lords, real and imagined, is a rank or status of absolute sovereign Lord in God's redemptive purpose that He had not previously enjoyed (George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, 415-19). See christ, estates of christ, humiliation of christ. For Further Reading: Curtis, The Christian Faith, 237-47; Forell, The Protestant Faith, 184-88; Henry, Basic Christian Doctrines, 145-51; Wiley, CT, 2:187-216. Wayne E. Caldwell EXAMPLE. The attempt to pattern after the example for human life given in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ has prompted such guidebooks as Imitation of Christ (Thomas a Kempis). Imitatio Christi as an ethical ideal, however, has been understood in different ways, depending upon the particular perspective of the period of tradition within which it has been viewed. For the apostle Paul, the example of Jesus is presented not so much as something to be copied as something which the Holy Spirit molds into the character and life of the Christian. During the patristic period the imitation of Christ certainly was reflected in the strong tendency toward martyrdom, celibacy, and virginity. The later movement toward monasticism may be seen as an attempt to identify with the poverty of Jesus. The Lutheran attitude toward this ideal reflected its generally negative view of what it considered to be a concealed doctrine of works. Early 20th-century social gospel thinkers stressed the example of Jesus as that which we should emulate by our concern for the needy and the oppressed. However, later in the century, when it became clear that the "historical Jesus" was not going to be found, the views of Kierkegaard, which stressed personal self-giving, found root, and the radical commitment to which Bonhoeffer calls Christianity is strongly reminiscent of Pauline teaching. Present-day psychology has recognized the
202 EXCOMMUNICATION—EXEGESIS role of imitation in personality formation. Moral development, according to Kohlberg, involves a process of moving from egoistic beginnings to the levels of personal value and universal principles—a movement which allows creative expression of individuality but also may have a generic likeness to a personality ideal—that of Jesus Christ. See CHRISTLIKENESS, KENOSIS. For Further Reading: Macquarrie, ed., Dictionary of Christian Ethics; Kierkegaard, Journals, ed. and trans. A. Dru; Bonhoeffer, Ethics.
The official position of the Roman Catholic church is that the "power of the keys" (Matt. 18:18) embraces the power not only to remit sin but coercive and penal power necessary to carry out the mission of the church. Excommunication's chief purpose is not punishment but the correction of the offender. The offender does not thereby cease to be a Christian, since the benefits of baptism are considered inalienable (The New Catholic Encyclopedia Dictionary, 353). Roman Catholic sacramentalism makes excommunication a very serious matter, since the central thrust of excommunication is denial of the sacraments. For Protestantism the effect of excommunication is confined largely to exclusion from office and fellowship in the Christian congregation, because of its doctrines of justification by faith alone and the universal priesthood of believers. Greater emphasis is put on the redemptive and healing aspects of excommunication (Tillich, Systematic Theology, 3:179-80). In most Protestant churches excommunication can be applied only after a trial by one's peers and with the right of appeal to a higher court (Cyclopaedia of Methodism, 351). See CHURCH, CHURCH GOVERNMENT, DISCIPLINE. For Further Reading: Tillich, Systematic Theology,
Exegesis utilizes all the methods of biblical criticism: textual, philological, literary, form, tradition, redaction, and historical. Textual criticism seeks to establish the original wording of the biblical text. Philological study deals with the intended meaning of its vocabulary and syntax. Literary criticism studies the compositional, poetic, and rhetorical devices the author used to structure and embellish his thought. Form criticism identifies and classifies according to form units of originally oral material, relates them to their setting in the life of the community, and defines their function. Tradition criticism explores the oral and written stages the material has undergone in reaching its final form. Redaction criticism studies the special interests of the final composer of a literary work as revealed in the selection, grouping, arrangement, and modification of the material which has gone into his work. Historical criticism is concerned with the historical situation from which the document comes, investigating the author, the audience, and the conditions and flow of the cultural and historical context, and how the document reflects and relates to the historical situation. These methods overlap and their sequence varies with the nature of the material and the particular function of the exegetical task. This describes the scientific side of exegesis, without intending to ignore the divine side. As the Holy Spirit was active in the formation of the Scriptures, so must He guide and aid the interpreter in understanding its meaning for contemporary faith and life. It is this primacy of the Holy Spirit which is unique to the Bible, and forbids approaching it solely as any other book. Either extreme must be avoided: a reliance on the Spirit which discounts scientific method, and equally a reliance on method unaccompanied by an adequate openness to the Spirit of Revelation. See BIBLE, INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE, HERMENEUTICS. For Further Reading: Soulen, Handbook of Biblical Criticism, 57-60; Ladd, The New Testament and Criticism;
EXHORTATION—EXISTENTIAL, EXISTENTIALISM 203
Kaiser and Kummel, Exegetical Method: A Student's Handbook; Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation. Frank G. Carver EXHORTATION. The English word exhortation is from the Latin word hortari, meaning "encouragement," with the intensifying prefix ex. Thus it means "encouragement" or "earnest admonishment." It is one of several words of related meaning in the English Bible used to translate the Greek word paraklesis. In the NT the phrase "word of exhortation" apparently has the technical meaning of an exposition of the Scriptures. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls his work "the word of exhortation" (13:22); and when Paul is invited to preach in the Jewish synagogue at Antioch in Pi-sidia, he is asked if he has "any word of exhortation for the people" (Acts 13:15). This designation seems also to be implied in 1 Pet. 5:12. In all of these passages the "encouragement" is related to the scriptural exegesis; and this, for Paul at least, is one of the main functions of Holy Scripture, reflecting in this aspect the character of their Divine Author (Rom. 15:4-5). Exhortation, therefore, or encouragement which results from it, does not originate in or from the individual who is exhorting, but rather from God whom the individual preacher represents (2 Cor. 5:20). Little wonder then that for Paul exhortation is a gift of divine grace (Rom. 12:8). When admonishment or exhortation is given, it is usually preceded by an appeal to its divine origin, and is thus distinguished from mere human moral or ethical advice (see Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 10:1; Eph. 4:1; 1 Thess. 4:1; 2 Thess. 3:12). In the NT, therefore, exhortations, warnings, and admonishings are regularly preceded by a theological exposition which is presented as the basis for the exhortation. This in turn is presented as the practical expression of God's saving act in Christ as foretold in the Holy Scriptures. When addressed to the ungodly, it is normally a call to repentance. When the believer is the object, it is usually a word of divine encouragement in a difficult situation. See PROPHET (PROPHECY), PREACHING, TEACH (TEACHING, TEACHER). THOMAS FlNDLAY EXISTENTIAL, EXISTENTIALISM. Existentialism holds essentially that existence is primary to essence, the general and universal features of anything. Existence refers rather to the concrete, individual, human posture distinguished by action. Its provocative effect in philosophy, the dregs of dread and the drag of sterile nothingness, was offset for some, especially in religion, in that existentialism sustained the identity of the self. Though otherwise deeply disjointed, existentialism is loosely united universally by four prime categories: Humanism, that human beings are the only actual existents (Socrates); Infinitism, that man is finite but is confronted incessantly by infinity in conscious experience (Plato); Tragedy, that cares of life and fear of death beset man with tragic adversity (Pascal); and Pessimism, that nothingness surrounds the whole, making escape futile (new existentialism). Kierkegaard, Pascal, and Jaspers integrated religion into their philosophy of existence. Berg-son, Dostoevski, and Husserl treated metaphysics meaningfully though they were not religiously contained. But Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre rejected religion forthrightly, holding that God and all metaphysical paraphernalia are only inauthentic objective trappings, an exercise in abstractionism. Theologians shifted to meet the challenge of the philosophy of existence. Barth, Bultmann, Brunner, Tillich, Niebuhr, and others proposed theological adjustments. No two agreed precisely, but each brought superb method and style to the intellectual struggle. Working accord focused on the self, which they argued is a "unity of radical freedom and limitedness, and faith is the acceptance of this paradoxical unity. But faith is not the possession of a creed or a doctrine, nor is it belief. It is, rather, the decision to be oneself as this PERSON in this situation. . . . Existential theologians try to interpret Scripture in this manner, to show that in and under the mythological concepts and ideas is an understanding of human life that is a viable possibility for modern man" (Harvey, 93 f). A critique of the neoorthodox response to existentialism should include the reminder that the objective of theology is not to find a "viable possibility for modern man" but to understand and proclaim the doctrines of the Bible, whether acceptable or not. Furthermore, while faith is more than belief, it cannot exist apart from belief. And there is no virtue in the decision to be oneself in this situation if the decision is merely the confirmation of a rebellious, unredeemed, and unchanged self. See BEING, NATURE, PROPOSITIONAL THEOLOGY MAN, PHILOSOPHY METAPHYSICS.
204 EXODUS—EXPEDIENCY EXODUS. This term (exodon) means "a going out," "a way out," or "departure." It also is the name of the second book of the OT. There are but three references to this term in the NT: twice in relation to death (Luke 9:30-31; 2 Pet. 1:15), and once in reference to Israel's deliverance, under Moses' leadership, from over 400 years of Egyptian bondage (Heb. 11:22). However, the importance of the Exodus in OT history is assumed throughout the NT. Exodus signifies a victorious deliverance and symbolizes redemption. Exodus is the principal motif of the OT, and its recurrent theme as it rises to its grand climax in the exodon of Christ, which is discussed with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, and witnessed by Peter, John, and James. It is significant that Moses, who led the Exodus from Egypt, and who represented the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets, should have appeared in the glory of their translation victory to witness the culmination of the Exodus in Christ's victorious death and resurrection, prefigured in His transfiguration. Thus heaven, represented by Moses and Elijah, and earth, represented by Peter, John, and James, witnessed Christ's redemptive exodon accomplished for both himself and all mankind. It is further significant that His death and resurrection victory, or exodon, was something He would himself "accomplish," and not something that would happen to Him as death does to others (Luke 23:46). As Israel's Exodus from Egypt was accompanied by many miracles which authenticated God's intervention in their deliverance, so Christ's culmination of the Exodus at His victorious death and resurrection, prefigured in His transfiguration, was authenticated by God's miraculous interventions. Thus the redemptive Exodus begun under the leadership of Moses was completed in the exodon of Christ. See ELIJAH, REST (REST OF FAITH), REDEEMER (REDEMPTION). For Further Reading: MacRae, "Exodus," ZPEB, 2:428-50; 7SBE, 2:1052-67; Wood, Pentecostal Grace. Charles W. Carter EXORCISM. This is the use of a formula of incantation and prayers for the purpose of expelling evil spirits or devils. In the strict sense of the term, there is no exorcism in the NT. The method used by Jesus was authoritative, not ritualistic; the giving of a command, not the casting of a spell. And when He gave His disciples power over sickness and demons in His name, it was His power, the power of God, not His name that effected the cure. In no instance was the name of Jesus used as a magic weapon against evil. Exorcism as incantation arose in the Early Church from the practice of Jesus and His disciples of healing by the laying on of hands and prayer. This included the casting out of unclean spirits. In time the formula came to be used to drive out Satan from catechumens coming from heathenism, for Satan dwelt among the heathen. Soon it became united with the baptismal ritual, and this finally led to fantastic magical rites. These grew up, as it were, with the Catholic church. Martin Luther did not reject the practice, but in time the Lutheran church questioned its value, abbreviated it, and finally did away with it entirely by the close of the 18th century. The Roman Catholic church has continued to practice exorcism but provides strict rules for its regulation. The Greek Orthodox church continues to include exorcism in the rite of baptism to expel every kind of evil by the use of a series of prayers. Some churches require a reputable psychiatric examination as the first step in suspected cases of demon possession. The term exorcism is an unfortunate one, for as here defined it is alien to the true spirit of evangelical Christianity, unless it also acknowledges, in relation to the cure sought, the exercise of faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit for deliverance from all sin. See DEMONS (DEMON POSSESSION), SATAN, PRAYER, FASTING.
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